Minnesota’s first bus rapid transit system nears completion

Apple Valley Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland, left, and Ed Kearney, president of the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce, try out a bike rack on one of the new buses that will run on the Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line. The buses began arriving in November, and the line is due to open next spring. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

South metro officials say system spurs development in area

William Branning, the chair of the Dakota County Regional Rail Authority, remembers Cedar Avenue as a fairly deserted place, with few businesses and a single bus that ran just once a day.

Three decades later, the suburban corridor through Apple Valley, Burnsville and Eagan is lined with department stores, restaurants and several large housing developments.

Its transformation will continue next year when a bus rapid transit system — the state’s first — begins shuttling Dakota County residents to Bloomington’s Mall of America, where they can connect to the region’s growing transit system through the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit line.

The forthcoming 16-mile transitway was celebrated at the Apple Valley Transit Station on Monday as officials with the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, Metropolitan Council and Dakota County prepared to begin promoting the service.

The occasion also marked the debut of one of seven buses that will run on what’s known as the Red Line. Designed to mimic a light rail vehicle, the $500,000 buses feature interior bike storage and low-floor boarding.

Station development and street improvements being made as part of the $112 million state and federally funded project are ongoing, but the system is due to be operating as early as May.

When the line is finished, buses will travel every 15 minutes between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. on weekdays, carrying commuters from Apple Valley to Bloomington in roughly 30 minutes. Weekend and special event service is also planned, though schedules are still being worked out.

For Branning, seeing the system near fruition is the realization of a long-held vision that began to emerge in the early 1980s, when transit wasn’t as universally embraced.

“I could see a lot of asphalt coming,” Branning said. “The vision for Apple Valley was sprawl. We have a new vision now.”

Officials unveiled one of the new buses that will run on the Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line between Apple Valley and Bloomington on Monday. The buses began to arrive November, and will go into service when the BRT line opens next spring. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

While Cedar Avenue’s redevelopment remains a work in progress, community officials say their idea of a transit-oriented community is becoming clearer as the BRT line’s opening day nears.

A mile north, near the site of an under-construction station at 147th Street and Cedar Avenue, two 50,000-square-foot office-warehouse buildings are being completed, with plans for two more in the works.

And up and down the avenue, businesses are putting money back into their properties, said Ed Kearney, the president of the Apple Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“I can think of about a dozen businesses that have invested up to a half million dollars knowing that this [the transit line] was going to happen,” he said.

The shopping center will take 29 of 40 city-owned acres that have sat vacant for more than a decade, and is expected to become a “regional destination,” according to Gary Hansen, an Eagan City Council member who chairs the Minnesota Valley Transit Authority’s board.

Hansen said the city foresees more retail, a hotel or housing on the remaining developable land, though he acknowledged the timeline was uncertain.

“We’re anxious for development to occur,” he said. “We think this is going to be a real destination in the region.”

More than attracting development, local proponents also see transit as a tool that can be used to draw young people back to the community.

“This is about changing the dynamics of the suburb,” Kearney said. “This isn’t quite Uptown, but we have become Southtown.”

The Cedar Avenue BRT line will serve as the state’s first experiment with BRT. The service is designed to mimic light rail with more efficient, regular service, limited stops and fixed station areas.

Officials believe it will see 960 average daily weekday riders when it opens, and that ridership will grow to 3,650 weekday riders by 2030.

The Gateway Corridor between downtown St. Paul and Woodbury could become the next BRT line in the region.